


Lovesick

by starrynyu



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: First Kiss, First Time, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, M/M, fictional illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:21:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29092674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrynyu/pseuds/starrynyu
Summary: Love Allergy: heart-shaped rashes, dizziness, accelerated heart palpitationsIt's annoying, and Eric knows all about it, but maybe it's not as bad as he thought.(or a milric dear signal au)
Relationships: Lee Jaehyun | Hyunjae/Son Youngjae | Eric
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47





	Lovesick

**Author's Note:**

  * For [126916912](https://archiveofourown.org/users/126916912/gifts).



> thanks for always being amazing, for making me feel great about my writing and for listening to my stupids rants. i love you so much, there are few words that can express how much you mean to me. instead, i wrote you something, because that's the only way i know to share my appreciation.

The thing was, Jaehyun didn’t really see it coming.

They were all sitting in the cafeteria like normal. It was something that did every single day, even if the group changed depending on their classes. Today, it was most of them. Kevin and Jacob were working on a project, discussing in mumbles and doing more writing than eating, but they were still there. Sunwoo, Eric and Juyeon were chatting about the drama they were watching, completely immersed on their own world while Jacob, Haknyeon, Chanhee and him were divided on a 2v2 about the latest Zelda news. All and all, a very normal day.

It wasn’t as if anything had been out of the ordinary until then, not as if something had been able to tell Jaehyun what was going to happen.

Nothing, until Eric started rummaging inside his bag. They were sitting opposite each other so Jaehyun couldn’t have missed the slow fall into desperation his face took even if he’d wanted to.

“Ric, you okay there?”

Jaehyun started to worry when the blonde covered his mouth, his eyes shooting open. With a shake off his head, Eric stood up and ran.

Sunwoo looked to his right, probably just noticing something was up. Frowning at his best friend’s left behind backpack, he shrugged at Jaehyun, his own wordless way of asking what going on.

“I don’t know,” Jaehyun mumbled to no one in particular before standing up as well and rushing after the younger boy.

Thankfully, he wasn’t only tall but his legs were also pretty long, which meant it didn’t take him more than a few seconds to reach his friend. Grabbing him by the arm, he stopped both of them on their tracks.

“Hey, Ric,” he panted a little. Being long didn’t equal being athletic. “What’s wrong?”

“Are you kidding me?” The blonde said under his breath. “Did it really have to be you?”

He sounded stressed so instead of letting his arm go, Jaehyun squished.

“Did I do something wrong?” There was no answer to that. “Are you so mad at me you don’t even want to look me in the eyes?”

That did it. Eric turned around slowly, still being restricted by Jaehyun’s strong grip. It wasn’t like him to worry this much but it was even less like Eric to just ignore him. So, he was worried, mostly because they’d always talked about stuff, even when they were uncomfortable, instead of letting something build up and tear at them.

“Ric, I won’t know what’s going on unless you tell me.”

The blonde shook his head. “I can’t.”

Even more reason to freak out. Jaehyun let his grip soften, moving his hand up the younger’s boy arm until it stopped at his bicep. Taking a step forwards, he looked down at the other’s eyes, still staring anywhere but him.

“Ric, you’re really worrying me now.” He used his thumb to press lightly on the younger’s muscles. “Talk to me.”

And then, everything felt into place.

Eric’s eyes found his for nothing but a second, but a second was enough. With a gasp from the younger, Jaehyun’s sight was covered in light pink.

It wasn’t his first time seeing them, but it sure felt like it. His free hand moved almost instinctually, pressing against the heart shaped rash on Eric’s left check. It had gain colour progressively, now being dark enough there was no way someone would miss it. There were others, covering his neck before starting to disappear inside his sweater.

It was a breathtaking side and Jaehyun swallowed at the same time the blonde’s cheeks were covered by even more pink in the form of blush. He was embarrassed, which only grew as he stumbled a little.

_Dizziness._

_Heart-shaped rashes._

Jaehyun moved his hand again, this time to rest over Eric’s heart.

_Accelerated heart palpitations._

“Ric…”

“I’m sorry.”

He’d never heard the blonde’s voice like this, not towards him, at least. It was tinted with discomfort but there was more and Jaehyun clenched his teeth. There was nothing to be ashamed off.

“Don’t apologise.”

“Please, stop touching me.”

Jaehyun backed away instantly, not wanting to make the moment any worse for his friend, but not away enough that if Eric fell he wouldn’t be able to catch him.

So, this was what was happening lately.

Abruptly, a lot of thing started clicking inside Jaehyun’s mind. The way Eric had cut down on their physical contact, how much sudden space had seemed to appear between them out of nowhere. They was Eric avoided being with him alone, how he always found an excuse to leave, how they’d stopped hanging out just the two of them. The way Eric looked at him when he thought Jaehyun wasn’t looking back, the softness on his expression, the affection in his eyes.

He’d thought it was nothing but admiration. Oh, how wrong had he been.

“You—”

“Yes,” the blonde seemed stable enough now, probably thanks to the centimetres between them. “I do. I had no intention of you finding out like this, or at all.”

“How long?”

Eric passed his slender fingers through his light looks, blinking and visibly uncomfortable. “3 months.”

That made sense. “But how did you hide it?”

“I’ve been taking my medicine but I forgot it today.”

Jaehyun nodded. “I’m—well, I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. This isn’t a confession.”

It wasn’t? He thought it kind of was. After all, love allergies were nothing if not an evident physical representation of one’s feelings. 

Still, he wanted to respect Eric’s wishes. If he didn’t want them to count as a confession, then they wouldn’t. Anyway, it wasn’t as if Jaehyun had an answer for him.

“I’m going to go home.”

Again, Jaehyun couldn’t do anything but nod like an idiot. “Please rest and take care of yourself.”

“I’ve been dealing with this for three months, don’t worry, I know what to do.”

Truth was, Eric had no idea what to do. He’d been relaying on his medication since his first rash so he was at a blank on how to handle it once they were out. Covering his mouth with his right arm, he legged it out of there as fast as he could manage.

The infirmary wasn’t that far away so, gathering all the strength and determination he could manage, he walked over, ignoring the stares, mumbles and giggles.

Fuck Jaehyun and fuck this fucking allergy.

“Hey, Kev?”

The brunette looked up from his phone. His and Sangyeon’s apartment was only a few minutes from university, so all their friends decided to hang out on it most of the time. It was usually annoying but today, he was grateful.

Sunwoo and Changmin were engrossed on their Mario Kart playoff but Jaehyun still nodded towards the kitchen. Just to be safe.

Kevin followed.

“I’m all ears.”

“Do you remember something about your lovesickness?”

“Of course, it wasn’t that long ago and it’s not like it’s completely cured.” His eyes intuitively (Jaehyun guessed) searched for Sunwoo. “It was also very annoying.”

“Really?”

Kevin nodded. “I mean, the rashes didn’t itch for me but the dizziness was the worse, I could barely stand if Sunwoo was close but no close enough. Also, the palpitations triggered an anxiety attack more than once.”

“Shit, this sucks.”

And it really did. He’d heard of the allergies and he’d also known they weren’t pleasant but they were definitely worse than he had imagine they would be.

“So, you and Eric?”

He blinked. “Ah?”

“I mean, you ran after him the other day and he came to me for help before so I guessed you had figured it out.”

“Well, yeah.”

“You’re not feeling guilty, are you?”

Kevin had hit the nail on the head. Of course he felt guilty, after all, it was his fault Eric was going through it right now.

“Listen, Jae, this is not your fault so you better not be blaming yourself for this. You can do literally nothing about the way Ric’s body is responding to you.”

“I know that but I do feel guilty anyways.”

“I mean, he had his medication and it will disappear sometime soon if he’s lucky, okay? Don’t beat yourself over it.”

“How about yours?”

“Mine? Well, it took some time but after we started dating, it weakened on itself. Also…”

“Also?”

The brunette turned pink but kept going. “When we’re having sex, my hearts appear sometimes but nothing else. If he’s… close enough to me, they don’t annoy me.”

Jaehyun couldn’t help but burn up a little at that. Of course, Kevin and Sunwoo had started dating over a year ago but that didn’t mean he needed the mental image of two of his closest friends having sex.

So, dating and sex, uhm?

“Like I said, there’s nothing you can do, so let him deal with it.”

“But you literally just told me how you help it?”

Kevin tilted his head to the right. “I doesn’t entirely cure it but I guess. Anyway, none of those is useful for you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that for those, you’ll have to like Eric.”

“Well…”

The other boy left out a gasp. “Do you?”

Did he? He had never actually stopped and thought about it. Yes, Eric was pretty but all his friends were pretty, he was friend with Chanhee after all. Would he date the youngest? Kiss him? Sleep with him?

“I need to think about it.”

“That makes sense,” Kevin placed a hand on his shoulder and squished, his glare going dark. “But think about it correctly, okay? Giving him hope over unsure feelings would definitely be worse than rejecting him outright.”

So, Jaehyun sat on his bed and thought about it.

Back to the pretty point, Eric was indeed pretty. His eyes were really expressive and every time he pouted, he looked like a small adorable puppy. His skin was fare and perfect, not to mention smooth and, adorned by the pink hearts, he looked even better.

Jaehyun wondered how many of those he had. Did they extended all over his body? Would his chest be covered by them? His back? His legs?

The mental image that followed that couldn’t be described as anything but heart-stopping. Eric, laying on his back, entirely naked, blushing like he had earlier, his blonde hair messy like it usually was during morning classes, hand covering his mouth like it usually did when he was embarrassed, his entire pale skin covered in different sizes pink hearts, his happy trail leading to a very hard member.

Okay, if his own hard on was anything to go by, Jaehyun would have no problem sleeping with Eric, that much was clear.

However, lust and love weren’t the same, he was aware of that.

So, dating, uhm?

He’d never been that big on relationships, mostly because he didn’t exactly have the time to meet much people outside of his classmates and he had even less time to dedicate to taking someone on dates.

What dates would he take Eric to? Well, the younger loved horror movies, even if he was always scared out of his mind over them, turning all shaky and grabbing at Jaehyun’s hand so hard it usually bruised, it was adorable. He also loved eating, ramen, yes, but he was crazy over sweets, and Jaehyun usually took him to different cafés he read about online just to see his smile when he bit down on an amazing piece of cake.

Oh, would dating be that much different to what they already did? No matter how many times he repeated to himself he didn’t have that much free time, he always found some to hang out with Eric when the younger asked.

He guess they’d hold hand. Eric’s hands were smaller than his by quiet a bit, they’d compared hand sizes on the past. How would it feel to hold them? He’d like to know that.

They would also kiss. He hadn’t kissed anyone in a while, not since him and Juyeon broke up two years ago. Well, lies, he’d made out with a pretty girl at the beginning of the year party, but he didn’t remember much about that. So, his reference was kissing Juyeon, which he guessed would be nothing like kissing Eric.

For starts, Eric was way shorter than him, while him and Juyeon were the same age. Would Eric do that cute thing where people get on their tippy toes to kiss him? Probably. He’d bend down a little to help him out, of course, but Eric would look so pretty standing on his toes to reach his mouth. His kisses would probably be a little messy, like him, a tornado of energy and positivity. Oh, he would surely smile into the kiss too, Eric couldn’t help but smile when he was happy. It would be so nice, to feel the blonde’s smile on his own lips before kissing him again.

_Oh._

Sunwoo, very him, had gone out two hours ago without telling Eric where he was going or if he’d be back for dinner. Living together was nice but his best friend could surely learn to at least text him if he didn’t need dinner that night. Nevermind, he could at least tell him when they said goodbye at the door.

He’d been laying on the couch for the past two hours, trying to watch a movie he’d randomly found on the tv and trying even harder not to think about Jaehyun.

It wasn’t working.

Since he’d been the one telling the older boy that his last attack didn’t mean a confession, it made sense Jaehyun hadn’t brought the topic up again with him after then, right? It wasn’t as if they were going to discuss Eric’s crush or his allergy and he’d told Jaehyun not to give him an answer, so they really didn’t have anything to talk about when it came to his feelings.

So then why did he feel uneasy?

Was it maybe because Jaehyun hadn’t argue with him about the answer part? What even did Eric want to hear from him? He knew Jaehyun was too busy to date, the older had told him as much himself, and it wasn’t as if Jaehyun saw him that way either, because if he did he’d have surely said something about it when he saw Eric’s rashes, right?

Had Eric’s request to not hear an answer stopped him? No, right? If he wanted to say ‘I love you too’ he would have then, when he had the chance.

A few months ago, Eric had believed there was a possibility that, maybe, Jaehyun liked him. He took him to the best cafés in the city, telling him it was just because he had no one else to have cake with, but Eric knew Jaehyun didn’t even like sweets that much and he only did it because Eric liked them. They went to the movies together all the time, not always but themselves but alone a few times, they’d gone to the amusement park when it was warmer, to have lunch or dinner together, to walk Eric’s family dog when he used to still live with his parents, even to a few concerts.

Sunwoo used to tell him they were already dating, that the only missing piece was the more romantic touches.

Eric had never been too shy with his hugs, with sitting on people’s laps, with cuddling on couches or beds. Of course, Jaehyun had never been an excepting before the last three months. They’d done all those stuff even when Eric first discovered he’d been crushing on his older friend, only stopping when Eric learned it had nothing of crush and all of being in love.

Really, who sent him to fall in love with one of his most airhead friends? Couldn’t he’d gone for someone like Chanhee? The pink haired was way more aware of his surroundings and, more importantly, he was very good at reading other’s people’s feelings. Of course, not exactly Chanhee though, Juyeon would’ve killed him and he had no intention of something even worse than what he was going through now.

_Honestly, Jaehyun, you—I want to punch you and kiss you at the same time._

Sighing, he decided to order some ramen and leave Sunwoo to his own devices for not being clear and sucking at communicating.

Before he could even open the app on his phone, the intercom rang.

Really? It was the third time that week, Sunwoo had earned himself a kick this time.

“Didn’t I tell you I’d shove the keys up your ass if you forgot them again?”

“I don’t remember such a thing, no.”

Eric’s heart started running faster and ugh, really, he shouldn’t have skipped his medication that morning. Jaehyun was panting, as if he’d run all the way there, and his head became light.

“Jae?”

“Hey, can I go up? I want to talk with you?”

Eric didn’t know how to react to such a surprise attack, his arsenal wasn’t ready for something like this, so he nodded like an idiot before realising Jaehyun was 5 floors down and couldn’t see him.

“Yeah, sure.”

The minute and a half it took Jaehyun to reach his apartment felt like the longest moment in Eric’s life.

He looked amazing, dressed with a cardigan and with his curls still a little wet. He was so beautiful, it made Eric angry.

“Hey.”

“Hi, sorry for showing up unannounced.”

“It’s okay.” It wasn’t okay, Eric’s heart was on his throat and he felt like he was going to spit it out any second. “You wanted to talk, right?”

“Yeah! Mmm, can we sit down?”

Oh god, this wasn’t helping Eric’s mental state.

He followed Jaehyun to the couch. With determination on his eyes, the taller boy turned to him.

“You said what happened last time wasn’t a confession but you didn’t say I couldn’t make my own, so here it goes,” he dried his hands on his jeans before continuing, Eric’s brain in between mess mode and love mode. “I’m not the best at expressing my feelings, I study too much and I know I’m not the best boyfriend. I also know you’ve liked me for a long time and my feelings can’t compare to yours yet but today I realised I’ve also liked you for a while, I’m just as stupid with my own feelings as I am with other people’s. I love going out to places with you and I love buying you cakes and I love your smile and I want to make you happy and just—okay, too fast but I wanted to say that I like you a lot and I’d actually like a response to my confession.”

Eric’s brain had switched off mess mode entirely, filled with Jaehyun’s words, clear on his head and even more clear on his heart. He knew his hearts were out but, for the first time, he didn’t care, he couldn’t even feel the dizziness, he was just plain and straight happy.

“You—mess—of—a—human.” He emphasised each world with a small punch to the brunette’s shoulder. “You can’t just show up out of nowhere and tell me you like me! My heart can’t take this!”

Jaehyun laughed, that pretty and bright laugh of his, and Eric crumpled, jumping on top of him and making them both fall on top of the couch. The hug wasn’t new, they’d hugged a million times before, but it was different. He guessed this was what Sunwoo meant with ‘romantic touches’.

“Hey you, an answer?”

Instead of talking, Eric used the muscles on his stomach to push himself upwards, catching Jaehyun’s lips. They were different from what he had imagine, a little drier and they tasted like cherry chapstick, but they were perfect.

Jaehyun’s hand travelled to his lower back at the same time he kissed back. It felt even better than Eric had imagine it would.

“I’ll just take that as a yes.”

“You didn’t exactly asked me to go out with you.”

“Oh.” Jaehyun stopped, as if he was recalling his confession. “Would you go out with me?”

“Yes, Jae, I’d love to.”

With a smile, the Jaehyun pressed on Eric’s cheek. The hearts were so pretty when he saw them up close, perfectly shaped and pinker than the younger’s lips. He felt stupid for not having realised just how much he liked Eric until today but he wasn’t going to dwell on it, instead he was going to make up for it from then on.

Eric stood up first, extending a hand Jaehyun took gladly.

He’d been to the younger’s room a few times before but the electricity that ran through his body then was something entirely new.

Just like he had imagined, Eric’s skin tinted on pink heart was breathtaking. He look incredible, blushing everywhere, panting and moaning. The heart right bellow his pelvis was one the older couldn’t get enough of kissing, earning himself groans and his name on a way he’d never heard it before.

He used his hands to caress every single one of them, still feeling a little guilty he was the cause of something Eric couldn’t exactly feel comfortable with.

Their kissed grew more and more desperate but Jaehyun kept himself in check, being careful not to hurt the younger. Lube made the sheets slippery but he’d used as much of it as he could, wanting the night to be a pleasant memory for both of them.

Eric’s blonde locks were messy but they made him look even more stunning. He was biting his lower lip, keeping in some of his moans as Jaehyun trusted inside him. He couldn’t think of a single view more beautiful than this and he leaned down to press a kiss on the tip of his nose.

It was when he pulled away again that he thought he’d done something wrong. Eric’s mouth was opened on a big, silent gasp, his eyes just as big.

“Sor—” he started but the younger’s hands traveled to cover his mouth instead.

“They look better on you than they do on me, unfair.”

It took Jaehyun a second to understand what he was saying but when he did, he felt Eric’s fingers pressing on his chin, looking intensely satisfies, like a cat after stretching. And it honestly made sense, as seeing Eric’s rashes gave him the same sense of security and boost of confidence.

Afterwards, they cuddled, Eric resting his cheek on Jaehyun’s chest and listening to his hearts beat. He’d never guessed he’d like the allergy, it was annoying and it sometimes itched, not to mention the stupid dizziness, but after seeing the hearts popping from Jaehyun’s skin, he couldn’t exactly say he hated it anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! this came out of nowhere but writing it made me happy so that's that 
> 
> [tw](https://twitter.com/starrynyu) | [cc](curiouscat.me/starrynyu)


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